Gisby

When I read this post, without thinking  I actually found myself saying it to myself in a voice impersonating the great man himself!!! ???

Adapting your car analogy… it’s like Mel crashed his car into someone but then sold it off afterwards. Clowes bought said battered and falling to bits car and fixed it up, but certain posters here want Clowes to pay the insurance claim from the initial accident just because he now has the car!

Mel Morris is responsible, derby county just vehicle he used in his poop or bust gamble for prem big bucks ,
say a driver runs round recklessly in a car , kills someone , the driver is responsible and punished , the car is not banned from the road so I agree this derby should feel shame malarkey is wrong , derby county have been bought by a new owner and will be putting money and jobs into the city and money into hmrc long into the future and that’s a good thing 

Totally agree. On the few occasions he did get the ball he was a threat and put balls into the right areas.

He got no service because almost every time Roberts received the ball he came back inside to Cashin who in turn went to Davies who then continued to go right to Knight or NML. My impression was time and again Barkhuisen was in acres of space down the left but the pass on to him was declined. Really enjoyed Saturday but this really frustrated me. Given the service I believe he’ll be a great asset. 

Usually because Cashin took 4 to 5 business days to release the ball and make a decision. 

He got no service because almost every time Roberts received the ball he came back inside to Cashin who in turn went to Davies who then continued to go right to Knight or NML. My impression was time and again Barkhuisen was in acres of space down the left but the pass on to him was declined. Really enjoyed Saturday but this really frustrated me. Given the service I believe he’ll be a great asset. 

Finding the whole sackcloth and ashes routine rather tedious to be honest. We're not the first club to go into administration, nor will we be the last. We messed up, we, along with our creditors, paid a heavy price. It's over now, let it go.

So the first thing to share from Alan Hintons personal collection is this superb European trophy, it spells UEFA, it was presented to the players in recognition of reaching the European Cup semi final, it is inscribed with Alan’s name and each of the clubs that they played in the competition Sarajevo, Benfica, Spartak Trnava and Juventus, a very rare and treasured piece of Derby County FC history. #dcfcfans #dcfc.

So following on from Sir Alan Hinton sending me over his treasured signed and worn White Hummel boots to restore and share things then moved on a step further, Alans two younger brothers Roy and Brian came over to visit me, they brought some more of his books over from the publisher who is based near to where they live, as you can see from the photo there is no mistaking them for any other than Hintons, they were great company and full of stories of their older brother who was obviously their hero growing up before he was famous.
I have known Alan a long time maybe twenty years since he first came over to my mum and dads house with John O'hare for a cup of tea and we have always stayed in contact and i have always been over to see him whenever he comes to the UK which is most years so he knows what i am about and my ethics and what i try to do in putting together the history of teh club mainly through the shirts but also many other items of intrest that i rarely post.
I am not some sad old anorak i am a normal fella with a beautiful wife and a great son 12 year old son and a dad who i treasure and include him with what i do as it was him who started me on Derby County from birth so he can now endure the obsession as its his fault, i have built up an acquaintance and in some cases a friendship with many of the ex Derby County players especially those form the 70s and 80s for the obvious reasons that the team from 1968 to 1976 was legendary and the team from 1982 to 1990 was the one that i grew up with in my teen years and went on that fantastic journey with them, i am a genuine person and my collection is built upon trust that i wont use it for financial gain.
So back to Alan, himself and the family want me to put many of Alans Derby County related items into my collection, these will be shared with the DCFC family through events with the Rams Heritage Trust that many of you know i am one of the founding trustees with Jamie, Paul & Joe, we all have the clubs intrest at heart and our aim is to work closely with the new owner and to try and find a way of a display area being set up within Pride Park and maybe attach it to the ground tour, very much in the way that Arsenal have done it so well, made it all about the history of the club not just trophies. i will of course share items online as always, mainly through my twitter feed @phillowe1 as that way people can follow it who want to see it and it doesn't bore those who don't wish to see it.
I have built up a a good reputation online with many other football historians and collectors and work closely with Andy Ellis & Jason Shardlow on the book that we did and is updated each year with new content based on the shirt collection and the colours of the rams from 1884, i also speak with and spent time with Peter Seddon who endorsed the Racecourse Shirt collection of the first five shirts worn by Derby County, he actually is one of the 12 members of the collection.
There are some great items so i will post them over the next few days and hopefully this will become one of those posts that you can come back to each time you see it appear on the time line as new content will have been added.
Finally how great it is that we have our club back, for one moment a few weeks back i thought that we had reached the end game !
massive respect to David Clowes who really is just one of us ! 
Up the rams !!
 
 

Sure I read a quote somewhere from LR who said he (KB) was in the dressing room for the pre match teamtalk wishing the lads well. Nice touch is so ?

I enjoyed the match yesterday, the atmosphere was positive from the crowd even if we weren't at our most exuberant, and the players all did well. 
I liked the look of Mendez Laing although I think that he will entertain and frustrate in equal measure. I thought Corey Smith was extremely influential in the first half before he faded a little in the second, understandable at this stage of the season. I felt a bit sorry for Collins and Barkhuizen because they were both left a little isolated but both did enough with the small amount of ball they had to suggest that they are capable of winning games for us once everybody has bedded in.
Knight was superb and my MOM despite playing out of position, thankfully he seems to be the type of character who is happy to play wherever as long as he's in the team. Hourahaine showed that there is no substitute for class which leaves Louie Sibley. I criticised him after the stevenage game but yesterday he was brilliant, playing with an intelligence and positivity which changed the game.
I don't think anybody will get carried away by a 1-0 victory at home  because we should expect to win our home games. Next week is the big test and probably the biggest indicator of how we are going to do this season, because our away form can make or break our hopes, so a pat on the back for yesterday but stay realistic.

You did, It's 6 posts above yours ?

It was just a wow day , had to choke back a tear at points ( silly old sod) 
we are derby and up there with the biggest and best clubs in the land no matter what division we are playing in

Considering that team has been cobbled together in a rush in six weeks that was alright. 
If Oxford are what passes for playoff contenders this season then we'll be fine.

Whatever happens today... and in the future... I would like to take a moment to wish the very best of luck, future success, and most of all, pure unadulterated enjoyment, to our new found friend, neighbour, and down right saviour, Mr David Clowes.
To you sir, I sincerely hope today fills your heart and soul with never-ending pride.  And why would it not!
?
 
 

He's our most talented player, but obviously his injuries are holding his career back. You'd expect a player like Bielik to attract much better sides than Birmingham, I'd guess not many others were willing to cover his wages for the higher risk of having him unavailable.
I think this works out pretty well, as long as the 4 new players that Rosenior alluded to are now possible without Bielik's wages on the books. Our squad still lacks depth, 4 players for the same cost as one luxury player is a no-brainer for a club in our current position. There's no guarantee the quality of the team will be any better, but I'd bet that we'll have a far stronger squad than if we just kept Bielik.

Hello Joe,
Thank you for your kind comment, it will be a DCFC U21 team and maybe one or two first teamers who need a run out, we always try to play the Rams in preseason and its usually one of our first games but securing the safety of your club that plays a big part in the Derbyshire football landscape as a whole took priority as it should.
We "blew" promotion by not having the spending clout of other teams at that level, we aren't bank rolled and our staff is 90% volunteers who work full time hours in our community. Our income is simply what we make on matchdays and through sponsors but costs are rising and it is a constant battle to stay above water.
We were unable to field a team against Alfreton Town due to a mix of injuries, player holidays and work commitments. Most of our lads work a nine to five and so they use their work holidays throughout the season, it was unfournate but these things happen.
I hope you enjoy the opening game of the Rams season and thank you for your comment.

If Byrne is getting paid and he is accepting it then, by his conduct, he is also accepting his contact with the club is valid.
He can’t have it both ways, a non valid contract and payment by the club.

Pay him by all means.
But then fine him the same amount for not showing up for training or being available for games.
Sorted.

Impressive interview. He speaks well. Confident, intelligent and eloquent. Wishing him the very best for the coming season.
 

Smart move this. I like how we are taking our time instead of thrashing out a 3 year deal. IMO Liam shouldn't get the job based on his appreciated tireless efforts to get the team ready, but based on results. This will allow us to see if he has what it takes, if it works, then great, we can hand him the deal as permanent manager then, of not, then is saves us sacking him, thus costing us a load of money.
Finally, it seams like the club is making level headed and smart decisions. Anyway come on Liam, we are all behind you, make this job yours, I really hope you do, there is not a nicer bloke in football ? 

Most important part of that statement is - 
“As with every aspect of the club, David Clowes and his team are taking their time to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the football side, and to consider all structural options” 
to me that reads, we don’t want to commit to giving an untested manager a 2 year contract etc when finances are the most critical they’ve ever been. If he smashes it, we’ll reconsider, if he falters then we may look to bring in a DOF / someone more experienced to help him out or just replace him. I.e continually review the structure to ensure optimal results. 
I think it’s very clever and sensible  
 

It’s an interesting debate, and one I’ve thought about before. Is our academy really as good as some fans make it out to be? Do we get overexcited about our young stars who aren’t really as special as we think they are? Those really are open questions btw, because I’m really not sure what I think.
You can look at Forest for example, much as I don’t want to. A lot of our fans say we’ve got the better academy, but have we? They’ve had players like Cash, Burke and even Brereton go for absolutely huge fees, far larger than what we got for players like Hughes and Bogle. Players like Lascelles and Darlow have also had established Premier League careers, whereas even Hughes and Hendrick have hardly torn it up after leaving us. And I’m pretty sure they were only a category 2 academy until fairly recently. That doesn’t reflect well on all the investment we put into our academy in my view - very few players have left for 10m+ and established themselves in the Premier League. 
We can look further than that as well, how many of the players we’ve let go have made particularly great careers for themselves? Hanson, once regarded as a “hot prospect”, has been released by Oxford. Farrend Rawson, due to be our next big CB, is at Morecambe. Zanzala plays for Newport. These were once regarded as our best young talent, and look at them now. Our academy has hardly churned out a load of top quality players. 
Now, I don’t want to come across overly critical of the academy. Without the players they brought through, we wouldn’t have even put up a fight last year. In fact, we wouldn’t have even had a team to put up a fight. We should be hugely thankful to academy staff like Wassall, who has found some brilliant external talent to bring in and develop, and the coaches that got these players ready to play for our first team when we desperately needed them (many of these coaches are now gone, sadly). 
But I do feel our fans have got a bit over-excited about this current crop that have come through, based on their performances when we won the U18 Premier League. First team football is a totally different proposition. Yes it’s amazing how many have come through at once, but this was through necessity rather than every player being absolutely ready.
Bird being linked with Coventry is no surprise, for example, that’s his level. A good Championship player, nothing more. And that goes for Knight, Buchanan etc as well. I don’t think any of them will go onto have established Premier League careers. Might flirt with the top flight now and then of course, but I think they’ll all spend the best part of their careers in the Championship (I’m not even sure Sibley will manage that). Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course, a Championship career is a damn good career, which will set them up for life. Plenty of good players who’ve done similar in the past. But they’re not as special as some believe in my view.
Not really sure what my point is here. We’ve been at Championship level for most of my lifetime, so producing Championship level players is really all we should expect from our academy. So this is certainly no slight on them. But you sometimes can’t help but feel, with all the investment in our academy, we should be producing the odd player who’s really special, and goes for huge money to the Premier League. To be honest, I think we might have had a couple of those go for free in Ebosele and Ebiowei, thanks to Mel Morris and Quantuma. Do all the others get snapped up whilst they’re still 16, like Gordon and Delap? Maybe, but is there something we can do to persuade them to stay? Or are the big clubs just impossible to compete with? I really don’t know.
TL,DR: Our academy has done a brilliant job, but maybe we should expect more for our investment. Or maybe not. There might be more we can do to persuade our best talent to stay. Or maybe not. Basically I don’t know. This whole post was pointless. Thanks for reading.

Just looking at the Max Bird thread and seeing a lot of people saying something like 'Coventry? He's way too good for them.'
I'm not so sure. I like Max, hope he stays, think he'd be brilliant in League One and can hold his own in the Championship. But I'm not sure how high his 'ceiling' is, or whether I'm particularly surprised there isn't a queue of top Championship clubs (or Premier League clubs) knocking down the door. 
I seem to feel this about a lot of our young players, ie we've produced a really impressive number of Championship level players. But how often do we produce players who go on to get regular football with top-half Premier League teams? 
Is this because the very best get snapped up very early (Gordon, Delap etc)? Maybe, although who knows where they will end up. More generally even some of our best recent talent - Bogle, for example - ended up at Sheffield United struggling for games in the Premier League. 
Wasn't Buchanan going to a top club? Knight? I'm fairly sure Ebosele was supposed to be nailed on for a top-flight move. 
Even our best young players of the last decade or so - Hughes, maybe Hendrick - didn't set the Premier League alight and never got a really big move, or played a major role for a competitive top flight club.
Don't get me wrong: the academy has been superb. It's been brilliant watching so many young players come through and look completely comfortable in the Chamionship. But am I wrong to think it strange we haven't produced at least a couple of real A-grade players?